The Weakest Link: A Windwaker Prequel
by Elisafairy
Summary: You only hear about the Links that save the princess and defeat the evil that threatens the land. You never hear of the ones who were chosen, but failed. Well, there was one, after the great flood. He failed and another took his place. This is his story.
1. Chapter 1: Lenzo

Emilae ran down the beach toward the mysterious thing that had washed ashore. What could it be? Whatever it was, it was large. Maybe it was some kind of treasure, and her family could sell it for money. As she got closer, she realized that it was not treasure, but a boy!

She rushed towards him even faster now that she knew what he was. Her stomach felt like it had a rock in it, and she swallowed painfully, dreading what she had just thought of was true. _What if he's dead?_

She reached him and bent down to examine him. He was still breathing, but faintly. Emilae breathed a sigh of relief. _He sure is ragged, and dressed funny, too._ He wore a yellow skirt-like cloth and a teal colored vest, ragged around the sleeves. His hair was shaggy and dark brown.

_I wonder who he is…_ She shook him gently. _I've got to wake him up and get him where he can rest._ The boy groaned and turned over a little, but didn't wake up. "Wake up," Emilae said, nudging him a little. "We've got to get some warm soup inside you."

He blinked his eyes open slowly, then said, "Who are you? Where in the Great Sea am I now?"

"My name's Emilae," the blonde-haired girl said, smiling warmly at him. "And you? Or can you remember?"

"My name is Lenzo. I'm from Windfall Island."

"Windfall Island? Where's that?" _What kind of name is Lenzo?_

"I'm not really sure where it's at, relative to here. Where is this, anyway?"

"This is Outset Island," Emilae told him. "Come on, we'll talk once we get back to my house. You need to dry off and get some food."

Lenzo stood up, then said, "Wait! I'm missing something."

"Oh, what is it?"

"Several things, actually. There was a hat… and a fan… and, of course, my pictobox!"

"What in the Great Sea is that?"

"What?"

"A pictobox. What is that?"

"It- it freezes things from real life, onto paper," he said, not really sure how to describe it.

Emilae was amazed. She gasped, then said, "Is it magic?"

Lenzo smiled. "I guess you could call it that if you want to…" he said. "Will you help me find it? It's really important that I get it back. It looks like a box."

Emilae agreed to help him, but only brought back several crates. "Thanks," Lenzo said, both amused and disappointed at the same time. "It's not that kind of box, though."

"Oh. Well, we'll find it eventually."

They did find it, along with the hat and fan. The hat was the only thing not completely ruined. Lenzo went with Emilae back to her house, where he stayed the night in the spare bunk-bed. Emilae heard him crying that night.

"What's wrong?"

"My pictobox…" he sobbed.

"There's not any magic like it anywhere else?"

"Y- yes… but it's rare, Emilae. I'll probably never find one again."

"There's magic on this island. It may help."

"I doubt it…"

There was silence for a moment, then Emilae said, "No, I mean it. Real, strong magic. Fairies. There's a fairy spring near the top of this island. We'll go there in the morning."

Silence again. "Thank you… for saving me, and for trying to find a way to fix my pictobox. I'm not sure I believe in fairies, though. The pictobox is… a different kind of magic."

"We can always try."

The next morning, Emilae and Lenzo climbed to the top of Outset Island and entered the forest there.

"Wow," Lenzo said. "It's so peaceful here."

"I know, right? I love to come up here and just relax."

"So where are the fairies?"

Emilae laughed. _For not believing in fairies, he sure is eager to see them._ "Be patient. It's a long hike, but we're almost there."

They finally arrived at the fairy spring… or where it was supposed to be. But the water had dried up, and there were no fairies in sight.

"Is this it?" Lenzo asked.

"Yeah, but something's wrong. I've never seen it like…"

Emilae stopped speaking and turned around. She had just heard a noise in the bushes. When she turned she saw what could only be described as a giant pig walking on two legs and holding a spear – a monster. No monsters had been seen since the flooding of Hyrule, which had been before Emilae's birth. She had never seen a monster before, but she knew why they were there.

The only time monsters were ever seen in Hyrule was when the evil Ganondorf was around. The flood had sealed him far beneath the waves, but apparently he'd been released. And that meant far worse things than the appearance of monsters would happen.

But for now, they would just have to deal with this. Emilae picked up a stick and tossed it to Lenzo, then picked up another for herself and held it like a sword. "Get ready to defend yourself," she said.

_To be continued…_


	2. Chapter 2: Meeting Sturgeon

Lenzo had been sailing with his father one day, travelling to distant lands to capture rare moments in their pictoboxes. The next, he had fallen overboard and had washed on some island he'd never seen before. Now his pictobox was broken and the girl who'd saved him had led him up a mountain, telling him there were fairies who could fix the pictobox. Lenzo didn't believe in magic, but he had to do anything he could to get his pictobox fixed.

But now this girl was standing beside him, stick in hand and telling him to defend himself. Lenzo also held a stick, but he wasn't as confident as her. Here was a real live monster, and Lenzo had no idea what to do.

Apparently, Emilae did. She tried to back away from the monster slowly, but when that didn't work, she swung the stick with all her might. She was stronger than she looked, and the blow sent the pig-like monster flying into the bushes. It immediately got right back up and charged at them with its spear. Lenzo yelped and dodged out of the way, but Emilae just planted her feet more firmly and stood her ground. When the monster was within range again, she spun around in a full circle, holding her stick out. Again, the monster was hit and flew into the bushes. This time it did not get back up.

"Did- did you kill it?" Lenzo asked.

"Shhh… no. Let's get out of here. Run as fast as you can without making any noise. It doesn't have good eyesight, but I'm not sure about its hearing."

The two ran all the way down the mountain until they were back to the Outset Island village. "How did you fight like that?" Lenzo asked, amazed. "What was that move called, and how could you tell the monster had bad eyesight?"

"I'm descended from Hyrulian knights," she said proudly. "Fighting just comes naturally to me."

"_Sure_…" Lenzo said, rolling his eyes.

Emilae's face turned red. She looked angry and embarrassed at the same time. "It's true! But I also have a friend who's good with a sword. He taught me how to defend myself. I could judge how good the monster's eyesight was because my friend, Sturgeon, taught me to look for any signs of weakness in an enemy. I can pick up on the smallest things."

Lenzo was getting a little tired of this girl's bragging, but he wanted to know more. "And that move, what was that called? I mean the one where you spun the stick around in a circle."

"Spin attack," she said. "That's an easy one, but a really powerful move if you know how to use it right."

Lenzo looked sadly back up at the mountain. "I left my pictobox, and it didn't get fixed anyway."

"I don't know where the fairies have gone," Emilae said. "There used to be a bunch of them up there, I promise."

Lenzo didn't believe her, but he didn't say anything about it. "Can we at least get my pictobox back?" he asked. "Maybe I could find another way to fix it."

"With monsters up there? Are you crazy? We may have held off that one but there are probably more."

"Please? What about your friend that's good with a sword… Sturgeon? He could fight off the monsters, couldn't he?"

"He sure _could_," Emilae said. "But, I don't know if he _would_ help us."

"Well, why not? He's your friend, isn't he?"

"Yeah, but he's always studying. He's not just a good fighter, he's a genius as well."

_Is there anything this guy can't do?_ Lenzo wondered. "Well, it's worth a try," he said. "Let's ask him."

"Okay, it's this way." Emilae led Lenzo to a house and they climbed a ladder to the second floor. Inside, the walls were covered in bookshelves lined with hundreds of books. A boy a little older than Emilae and Lenzo sat on the floor, studying a huge book with a leather cover. He had golden brown hair, glasses, and a serious look on his face. Lenzo didn't think he looked like the type to be a swordsman.

"Hey Sturgeon," Emilae said.

"Hey! You want more training? My brother's using the training room right now, I'm afraid. Maybe later we can…"

"No, I need your help. Well, he does." She pointed at Lenzo. "This is Lenzo. He's broken his pictobox."

Lenzo expected this guy to ask what a pictobox was, like Emilae said. Instead, he said, "I can fix that."

"Well," Lenzo said, "the problem is that it's up on top of the mountain, and we saw a monster. We thought you could help us fight them off if there are more."

"A monster? For real? A real, live monster?"

Emilae and Lenzo nodded.

"There haven't been any since we've been alive! The last time a monster was seen was before the great flood!"

"I know," Emilae said. "And the fairy spring was dried up, too. No fairies."

"What kind of monster was it?" Sturgeon asked.

"I don't know," Emilae said. She and Lenzo described it, and Sturgeon quickly pulled a book off of one of the shelves. He flipped through it for a bit, until he came to the right page. "Uh-huh," he said. "I think what you've got there is a moblin."

"Is that bad?" Lenzo asked.

"Bad? Yes. The worst? Far from it. Come down to the training room with me and we'll get some swords."

They followed Sturgeon out of the room, down the ladder, and into the first floor room. It was a big room, with swords and spears on the wall. There was a boy rolling around the floor and breaking clay pots with a spear. He resembled Sturgeon, but was about Emilae and Lenzo's age. The strangest thing was that he had shaggy, bright white hair.

Sturgeon walked over to the wall and pulled a sword off of a shelf, tossing it to Emilae. "Here's yours," he said, then grabbed another, larger one off the shelf. "This is mine." He looked at Lenzo and said, "I don't have one for you, so just stick with us and let us do the fighting, okay?"

Lenzo nodded. He was a little angry, but also relieved. He didn't really know how to fight at all.

The boy with the white hair stopped breaking pots and walked over to where they were standing. "Where are you guys going?"

"Oh, Lenzo, I want you to meet my brother, Orca." Sturgeon turned to Orca. "Lenzo left his pictobox on top of the mountain. We're going to get it, so I can fix it for him."

"What's with the swords?"

"They saw a monster up there earlier, a moblin."

"No way, you guys are just trying to trick me like you always do."

"No, we're serious," Sturgeon insisted.

"Can I come?"

Emilae and Sturgeon looked at each other uneasily. Lenzo wondered what was wrong with bringing Orca. From what he'd seen of Orca rolling around and breaking pots, he seemed like a good fighter. He'd be a good addition to their team.

"Okay," Sturgeon said, still not sounding sure. "I wouldn't want you to miss out on the chance of a lifetime. After all, there've never been monsters on Outset before."

"I won't mess things up this time," Orca said, sounding determined.

"You better not," Sturgeon warned. "This time it's for real. There are real monsters, and someone could get hurt."

"I won't let you down."

_To be continued…_


	3. Chapter 3: The Next Link

Orca began to grab a sword like the others. Sturgeon gave him a warning look, so he grabbed his spear instead. _I wish he would give me just one more chance._

Orca and Sturgeon used to practice fighting with spears together all the time. Emilae didn't have a spear, so she'd just watch them. Then, Sturgeon and Orca's father gave them each a sword. Emilae just happened to have one at her house that she'd inherited from her "Hyrulian Guard Ancestors". (_I still don't believe what she says about being descended from the royal family's protectors, _Orca thought.) Anyway, they would fight every day, practicing as hard with their swords as they once did with their spears, but now Emilae joined them. Sturgeon's skills seemed to increase every day of training, until he was almost legendary on the island.

People said that maybe he was the next Hero of Time, the one who had come to reclaim Hyrule Castle from under the sea and fight Ganondorf for the last time. Orca doubted that Sturgeon could be the hero. He was usually too busy studying to help others, and he could be a bit selfish. Besides, why did Hyrule Castle need to be reclaimed from the ocean? _The islands we live on are perfectly okay, so why does everybody long for a legendary place they can't have? If some hero did just decide to walk into an underwater castle and reclaim it, wouldn't Ganondorf be awoken? Unless that's already happened… the appearance of monsters may mean that…_

While Sturgeon was the legendary boy swordsman of Outset, Orca was known for his clumsiness. He'd never picked up the skills with a sword that Sturgeon had, although he trained just as often. He was amazing with a spear, but no one wanted to be around Orca when he had a sword in his hand. One day, he and his brother and Emilae were practicing with their swords, pretending to defend the village from the legendary monsters they read about in Sturgeon's books. That was the day that Sturgeon stopped trusting Orca with a sword. As they swung their weapons at wooden targets, Orca struggled to hit even one. A sword never felt right in his hand. It never felt as natural as a spear. As he tried to hit his second target, the sword felt unbalanced in his hand. He leaned his weight to try and make it feel balanced, but ended up stumbling. As he fell, the sword cut deep into Sturgeon's leg.

Luckily, Sturgeon's leg healed well, leaving only a scar, but he never forgot that day. He knew Orca hadn't done it on purpose, but his little brother was just too clumsy to train with. After that, Sturgeon and Emilae trained without Orca more and more.

Sturgeon took off his glasses and laid them down on a shelf. "This is for real this time," he said. "Not just wooden targets." He looked at Orca.

_He's remembering that day again. Why does he have to bring it up?_ "I know, I know," Orca said. "Let's go."

Orca, Sturgeon, Emilae and Lenzo began the walk up the mountain. As they were walking, Orca could feel Lenzo staring at him. He turned and smiled at the newcomer. "You're wondering about my white hair, right?"

Lenzo turned away, embarrassed. "No, I just… sorry."

Orca laughed. "It's not like embarrassed by it or anything. It used to be blonde, but it just started turning white early."

"Oh."

"So, where did you come from?"

"Windfall Island. I was sailing with my father, but I fell overboard the boat and washed up here."

"I've heard of Windfall. My brother told me about it. Big island, right? With a big city?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Lenzo had never thought of it as being big, but compared to this village, it really was a big town.

"Don't worry," Orca told him. "As soon as we get your pictobox and Sturgeon fixes it, we'll help you get a boat back to Windfall."

"Thanks," Lenzo said. "But I don't know if it'll help. My father and I were on a journey. We were going to get the rarest pictographs. He could be on any island by now." _Will I ever see him again?_

"We'll find him," Orca said. "I promise."

They were almost all the way up the mountain when they began to hear a strange sound. _"Meep! Meep! Meep!"_

"Oh no," Sturgeon said.

"What?" Emilae asked. "What is it?"

"Miniblins. This is the first time I've ever heard one, but I've read about it. They're small but they come in large numbers, so be prepared and get ready to do a spin attack. Lenzo, get over there. Maybe they won't notice you."

Lenzo moved out of the way as Orca readied his spear and the others readied their swords. The sound of the miniblins was quickly getting louder. Soon, they were running down the slope of the mountain, spears in their hands.

They looked just like the illustration of them in Sturgeon's book. They were rodent-like, with sharp buck teeth and horns on their heads. Each was a different color: red and purple, purple and blue, blue and gray, green and yellow, and on…

_I'm ready for this,_ Orca thought, _as long as it's a spear in my hand, and not a sword._ He thrust out with the spear and knocked away a miniblin with the point, then swung it around and used the stick part to send another four flying in one blow. The miniblins disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke.

Orca turned and was glad to see that he was keeping up with Emilae and Sturgeon pretty well. _Maybe it's okay that I can't use a sword. I'm equally as good with a spear as they are with their swords. I'll never have to use a sword, anyway._ He spun around once more and defeated a few more miniblins with his spear.

Just when all the miniblins seemed to be gone, a whole new set of them came running down the mountain. _"Meep! Meep! Meep!"_ Sturgeon turned to face the others. "Okay," he told them. "These guys are just going to keep coming. We can't fight them all. So, on the count of three, we'll run up the mountain, knock a few aside, and try to avoid the others. Ready? One… two… three!"

The four of them ran up the mountain and knocked away the miniblins that were directly in the way, dodging the others' spear points. When they got to the top of the mountain, they continued running until they made it to the forest. The sound of the miniblins slowly died away.

"Hey! It's my pictobox!" Lenzo said. He bent over and picked it up. "This is where we fought the moblin earlier."

"Then… then that's the fairy spring?" Orca said. _I can't believe it! It's completely dried up and there's a rock blocking the water!_

"Yeah," Emilae said. "All the fairies are gone."

"This is a big problem," Sturgeon said. "The fairies have always been here to heal the villagers and protect the island. Wait… what's that sound?"

There was a rustling in the bushes, and a moblin jumped out.

"Huh! Just a moblin!" Sturgeon said. "I think four of us can handle one of him!" He positioned his sword and began to sidle towards the monster.

As he did so, nine more moblins jumped out.

Orca saw the uncertainty on his older brother's face, but Sturgeon wasn't about to back down and show the others that he was afraid. He barely flinched and continued to sidle towards the monsters with his sword.

"Don't," Emilae said. "You can't take them all on at once!"

"Then get over here and help me!" Sturgeon snapped.

Emilae hesitated, then prepared to swing her sword. As she did so, the Moblins stopped in their tracks, fear in their eyes. _Are they really afraid of Emilae?_ Orca wondered, not believing his own eyes. Suddenly, the band of moblins seemed to suddenly just disappear into thin air with a swirl of purple clouds. Orca looked closer and saw that where ten moblins had previously been, there were now ten insects and the ten spears the moblins had dropped.

He turned to see a giant woman with dark skin, four arms, and a skirt that spiraled away into nothing, floating above the stone that blocked the waters of the fairy fountain. "I am the Great Fairy. I have come to show the Hero of Time his destiny," she said.

_So Sturgeon _is_ the next hero of time! This is crazy, this can't be happening!_ Orca _really_ couldn't believe his eyes now, or his ears!

"You," the Great Fairy said, motioning towards Orca.

_What? Is Sturgeon behind me or something?_ He turned around to look, but no one was there. Sturgeon was standing a little ways off. _She's pointing at me!_ "Oh, no," he said. "You've got the wrong guy. My brother's the expert swordsman. All I can handle is a spear."

The fairy shook her head. "I am never wrong. You are the next Hero of Time. Ganondorf has escaped his prison beneath the sea. You are the one who will defeat him and reclaim Hyrule from the ocean."

"No… I can't do any of that. There's no way. I must be dreaming."

"This is no dream, Hero of Time."

"Don't call me that! I'm no hero…"

"You are, whether you know it or not. At least, you will be… Link."

"Wh- what did you call me?"

"Link," she said simply.

"That proves you've got the wrong guy! My name is Orca."

"You are now Link, the next Hero of Time in a long line of heroes. On your island, it is customary that every boy gets a set of green clothing for their twelfth birthday. This is the clothes of the legendary hero. You have a set of these clothes, so return to your home and put them on, then find a sword and a shield and return here."

"Can… can the hero of time use a spear instead?"

"You could… but only for the first part of your quest. I would rather you use a sword from the very beginning, so you may learn the way of the sword and be prepared to wield the Master Sword."

"This is crazy."

"Maybe," the Great Fairy said, sounding amused.

"Will you tell me any more about this quest other than that I have to defeat Ganondorf and free Hyrule Castle?"

The Great Fairy smiled. "I will let you work that out for yourself, little hero. You will know what you are to do." With that, she vanished.

_I, not my brother, am the next Link!_ Orca was glad that he had something to be proud of, that he was something great that his brother was not. He was also really, really scared.


	4. Chapter 4: The Journey Begins

Sturgeon stared at his little brother in disbelief. _Did that really just happen? That klutz can't be the next Link!_ He tried to convince himself that he wasn't jealous, but he knew he was and he was angry at himself for it. _I always laughed when villagers spread rumors about me being the next Link, but I guess I always kind of hoped it was true._

He felt he should say something, seeing as his brother had just been given a quest to save the world from evil and bring about the return of Hyrule. He opened his mouth, but no words came. What in the Great Sea was he supposed to say after something like that?

Orca seemed to choke, then said, "I guess I'd better go get a sword and shield." He looked nervous.

_I guess he's even more shocked than I am,_ Sturgeon thought. "Okay," he said. He smiled at Orca and tried to look proud. He was a bit proud of his little brother, but he didn't have much confidence in him. _He can't even hold a sword straight and he's got to use one to fight monsters… and eventually Ganondorf._

Sturgeon, Orca, Emilae and Lenzo were about to head down the mountain when Sturgeon noticed Lenzo's pictobox. He picked it up and snapped a picture of the dried fairy spring. "Hey, Lenzo…"

"Yeah?"

"I thought your pictobox was broken."

"It was," Lenzo said gloomily.

"It's right here, good as new. The Great Fairy must have fixed it." He handed the pictobox to Lenzo.

A wide grin spread over Lenzo's face as he examined the repaired pictobox. He then noticed the picture Sturgeon had taken. "It's… it's color!" he exclaimed. He opened a compartment in the side of the box, then closed it quickly. "There's a forest firefly in here! You can only find these at a place called Forest Haven, and they give your pictobox the ability to take color pictographs. I've never been to Forest Haven, but my father has. The Great Fairy must have put this here." Lenzo smiled the whole way as they walked down the mountain to the village.

When they reached Sturgeon and Orca's house, Orca ran and changed into the green clothes he'd been given for his birthday. Sturgeon and the others suppressed their laughter. _Maybe they looked better on the hero of time, because they sure look weird on Orca, especially the hat._

Orca didn't notice their laughter. He grabbed a sword off of the wall, looking excited. He swung it through the air with a _whoosh_, knocking a couple of pots off of a shelf, and sending them shattering on the floor. Sturgeon winced. _If he's got to save the world, the world is so doomed._

"Now all I need is a shield," Orca said.

"I've got one," Emilae told him. "It's called the Hero's Shield. It's hanging on the wall at my house. It was passed down from my ancestor in the Hyrulian Guard."

_That again,_ Sturgeon thought. _I don't like to brag, but I'm a master at research, and I can't link her family to the royal protectors no matter how hard I study._

When they got to Emilae's home, however, he had second thoughts. As Emilae pulled the wooden shield down from its place on the wall, Sturgeon studied the design on it. _I guess it _could_ be from the royal guard._

She passed it to Orca. "Be careful with it. It's really old, from before the flood."

"So?" Lenzo said. "My dad's from before the flood and he's not _that_ old."

"No," Emilae said. "I mean, from _way _before the flood. Like, when the hero of time was around."

"We'd better get back to the Great Fairy," Orca said, rubbing his hand over the grain of the wooden shield and staring at the pattern. "She said to return when we'd found what we needed."

As they left the house and walked through the village, Sturgeon said, "Won't your family notice that the shield's gone?"

Emilae turned red, obviously worried about getting in trouble. "Oh… I didn't think of that. I'll tell them why we took it later. They won't believe me, of course, but all I can do is tell them the truth."

"You mean you're not coming with me?" Orca looked shocked. "I kind of assumed all of you were going to come with me…"

"I'm coming," Lenzo said after a moment. "I want to find my father."

Sturgeon ruffled Orca's pure white hair. "I can't let my little brother go off to save the world on his own." _Especially when he's as clumsy as he is._

"Okay," Emilae said. "I'll come if you really want me to. I'll just write my parents a letter and tell them about the shield."

Orca smiled. "Thanks, you guys."

They began to walk up the mountain yet again. "How many times are we going to go up and down this mountain?" Lenzo complained.

"Hopefully, this is the last time," Sturgeon said. "Let's see if the Great Fairy will tell us anything about this quest or if we're on our own."

When they reached the dry fairy spring, the Great Fairy was nowhere in sight. They waited a moment, then were about to turn and leave when she appeared.

"I see you have accepted the quest, Hero of Time."

"Y- yes, I have," Orca stumbling over his words. "I got a sword and a shield. What am I supposed to do?"

"Ganondorf has escaped the place he has been imprisoned, a lot faster than was expected. You are to defeat him and bring Hyrule to the surface again."

"But- you're only telling me things you've already said! Where is Ganondorf? How am I supposed to pull an entire kingdom out of the ocean?" Orca was feeling more and more frustrated.

"It is unknown where Ganondorf is. In order to restore Hyrule, you must find the broken fragments of the Triforce."

"The… Triforks? What-?"

"Not Triforks, Triforce!" the Fairy shouted impatiently. "Surely you've heard of it."

_How can my brother be clumsy _and_ stupid?_ Sturgeon wondered. _He must have the worst luck._ He leaned in and whispered, "It's a great power in the shape of a golden triangle. Ganondorf is trying to find it to make Hyrule his."

"Why would Ganondorf want a sunken city with no inhabitants?" Orca whispered back.

"I don't know! Maybe he plans to bring it back to the surface, force people to live there, and rule as their king. It doesn't matter. Whatever he does with the Triforce's power, it won't be good."

"That's right," the Great Fairy said. "That is why you need to get it before he can. The force has broken into nine pieces. Eight are hidden around the Great Sea. The middle piece belongs to Princess Zelda."

"Princess Zelda!" Emilae shouted. "She's still around… alive?"

"A different Zelda than the one in the Hero of Time story," the Fairy explained. "This Zelda is only baby. She has been hidden away so that Ganondorf won't find her. I have now told you all I know. Good luck!" The fairy spun around and vanished.

They stood there in silence for a moment. It was all so strange; it took some getting used to. Finally, Sturgeon said, "Well, I guess we'd better get a move on before Ganondorf finds the Triforce."

"I'm still going to call it the Triforks," Orca said as they walked down the mountain for the last time that day.

"You've got to be the most immature Link there will ever be, Orca," Emilae said, rolling her eyes. "We've got to take this serious."

When they got to the village, they got some paper from Sturgeon and Orca's house and wrote a note to Emilae's parents, which they tacked on the door of Emilae's house.

_I can't tell you where I've gone, but it's really important. I'll be safe, I promise._

Emilae gulped as she wrote that she'd be safe. That was a promise she may not be able to keep.

_I borrowed the Hero's Shield. I know you told me not to play with it, but I really need it. I'm so sorry and I'll try to come home as soon as possible. Love, Emilae_

Emilae was crying by the time they got to the shore. Sturgeon hugged her. "You don't have to come," he whispered.

Emilae quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and looked away from him. She hated for people to see her cry. "No," she said roughly. "I'm fine."

"Look! Boats!" Lenzo said. "I guess we'll need one of these, huh?"

"We'll probably need more than one," Sturgeon said, looking at the canoes on the shore. "They're kind of small. But we can't just steal one."

"You kids need a boat?"

They turned to see a very short old man, with squinted eyes, a big forehead, and a huge gray moustache. He hobbled towards them with a walking stick taller than himself. "You can have those two boats," he said, pointing at a couple of canoes lying on the sand. "I'm not sure how good they are, but you can have them."

"Thank you," Sturgeon said.

"No problem." The old man hobbled away down the beach.

"So, who's going to sit with who?" Lenzo said.

Emilae went over to stand by Sturgeon. Sturgeon ignored her and asked, "Lenzo, do you know anything about canoes?"

Lenzo shook his head.

"I'm the best with canoes, so I'll go with you. Orca and Emilae, you two go together."

Emilae glared at Orca.

"What did I do?" Orca said.

"Keep him out of trouble, please," Sturgeon whispered to Emilae. He hugged her, then went over to the canoe that Lenzo was already sitting in. He pushed it into the water and hopped in. Orca did the same to the canoe that Emilae was sitting in. They were off on their great adventure.

But they didn't get very far before Lenzo said, "There's water in the bottom of the boat."

"That's just great," Sturgeon growled. He looked down and saw that there was, indeed, a huge puddle of water, with more coming in through a hole. "I'll try to cover the hole. Use your hat to bail water out." Lenzo obeyed, and Sturgeon searched for something to stick in the hole. He noticed a piece of cloth lying in the bottom of the canoe, and tried to jam it into the hole. It slowed the water that was flowing in, but didn't completely stop it.

"HEY!" Emilae and Orca called from their canoe. "Our boat is sinking!"

"Ours too!" Sturgeon called back. "We've got to turn around." Both canoes turned and they began to paddle back towards the shore, but water was filling the boats quickly. _I think we're going to make it_, Sturgeon thought with a spark of hope. _We're going to make it back to shore!_

He lost hope a second later, as a huge wave rose in front of them, like a wall blocking them from Outset Island. The huge swell of seawater rose, and the four of them sat in the canoes helplessly. There was no time to get out of the way before the wave came crashing down.

Everything went black. Sturgeon panicked, something he didn't do often, thinking he was passing out. He felt a little relief when he realized that his eyes were just closed. A little relief, but not much. He was still separated from his friends, being tossed around the sea. He kept his eyes shut as water swirled around him, filling his mouth and nose with its salty taste. He felt his head break through the surface and he coughed up a bunch of water, before it was simply replaced with another mouthful as he went under again.

He opened his eyes, but the blackness began to come for real this time. Small dark dots began to appear before his eyes as he released breath and felt the water sweeping him away.

_To be continued!_


	5. Chapter 5: Windfall Island

Emilae woke blinking on the shore, lying on her stomach on the white sand. Her face felt gritty and sticky from sand and saltwater, and the sun beat down on her back. The sound of gulls and the crashing of waves was the only sound. _Did we wash back onto Outset Island?_ She lifted her face out of the sand and looked around. This wasn't any place she recognized. _The waves must have carried us to another island!_ She'd always wanted to go to another island, but this wasn't how she'd wanted to do it. Had her friends made it after being hit by that giant wave? She turned on her side and saw that Orca lie near her in the sand. At first she panicked when she saw that his eyes were closed, but then she noticed his steady breathing and sighed in relief.

She stood up, feeling exhausted and sore, and shook Orca gently. "Wake up. We've crashed on some island. Sturgeon and Lenzo are missing."

Orca stirred, then opened his eyes. "What? Where are we?"

"I'm not sure. That's what I'm trying to figure out. Let's go."

Orca stood up and they looked around. All they could see were the ocean, the shore, a cliff and some hills, but as they walked down the shore a ways, buildings began to come into view, and eventually a windmill. Emilae gasped when she saw the tall windmill and the light that shone atop it. She turned to Orca. "Do you have any idea where we are?"

"Um… no. That's why I asked you when I woke up."

"Don't you see that windmill? We're on Windfall Island! I've always wanted to come here!"

"Oh, uh, great. Me too," Orca said.

Emilae glared at him. _Don't try to impress me. I know you could care less what island we're on._ "Come on," she said. "Let's see if anyone's seen Sturgeon or Lenzo."

They made their way to the city and through the streets, asking if anyone had seen their missing friends. No one had, but one man said, "No, but I'll bet Pompie and Vera have. You should ask them."

"Who are Pompie and Vera?" Emilae asked.

"You must be strangers to this island if you haven't heard of them. They're both only about five years old, but they know more than people much older than them, because they listen to everything you have to say, whether you want them to or not. Annoying at times, but if there's something you want to know, you can probably get it from them for a rupee or two. If you walk around town enough, you'll eventually see them. Cute little blonde girls, always together. They're hard to miss."

"Thank you, sir," Emilae said.

She and Orca walked about town a bit longer, ignoring the people who stared at their rags of clothing (the sea had not been good to them) until they came to a group of girls of different ages standing outside a building that appeared to be the island's school. There were two about Emilae and Orca's age – 13 or 14 – one about 11, and two little blonde girls who looked to be 5 years old.

"Hey," Emilae said. "I'm Emilae, and this is Orca. We're from Outset Island, and we're looking for a couple of friends we've lost."

The older girls introduced themselves as Missy and Minenco, the younger one (who had hair dyed the odd color of pink) said her name was Marie, and the two littlest girls remained silent and gave only mischievous grins rather than their names.

"Are you Pompie and Vera?" Emilae asked them.

"Maybe," they said at the same time, then one of them said, "We might tell you if you give us a rupee each."

Orca rolled his eyes and said to Emilae, "Let's just assume they are. I don't have any rupees with me."

"Okay," Emilae said. "Have any of you seen two boys about our age around here? Sturgeon's tall and has glasses, and light brown hair, and Lenzo's-"

"Lenzo?" the girl named Minenco interrupted. "I know him. But I haven't seen him since he left with his father. They went on a voyage to get rare pictographs."

"Oh. Thanks anyway." Emilae's heart dropped. She turned to Pompie and Vera and asked, "Have you seen them lately?"

Pompie and Vera just smiled.

"Okay, okay." Emilae found two rupees in the pockets of her dress and handed one to each of the girls. "Those were my last rupees."

"Sorry, we haven't seen them," one of the girls said.

"But thanks for the rupees," said the other.

"Aaugh!" Emilae growled in frustration. "Thanks for nothing."

As they walked away, Orca put his hand on her shoulder. "We'll find them. Don't worry."

Emilae picked up his hand and slid it off of her shoulder, then walked ahead of him. She wished Sturgeon was here. She wouldn't be worried if he were. _Too bad it's him I'm worried about. And Lenzo, too._ She walked to the edge of a cliff and sat down, watching the ocean below her. _That wave was pretty big. What if… what if they didn't make it?_ She felt tears brimming her eyes. Orca sat down beside her and tried to put his arm around her shoulder, but she simply scooted away. _Why did I have to get stuck with Orca?_ They were both silent until they heard footsteps behind them and turned around.

It was one of the little girls from the group outside the schoolhouse. "I'm Vera," she said, looking shyer without her friend beside her. "I didn't tell you everything before 'cuz I thought you might give me more rupees to tell you. But since you don't have any more money, I guess I'll tell you for free."

Emilae stood up and turned around in a whirl. "You know where they are? Are they okay?"

"I- I don't know. I was looking through my telescope, and I saw a boy holding onto a piece of wood, floating in the ocean. I was too far away to see if it was Lenzo or that other boy, but he was floating towards Dragon Roost Island."

"Thank you so much! If I had any rupees, I'd give them all to you!"

"It's no problem." Vera paused for a moment, then sighed, and said, "Wait here." She ran off and returned a few minutes later, holding a telescope. "You can have this if it'll help you."

"Thank you," Emilae said, taking the telescope. "Maybe we can return it one day."

"It's okay. You can keep it. I'm friends with Lenzo too, so I'll give you anything you need if it will help bring him back."

"We'll find him. I promise," Orca said.

"Alright, let's go. Thanks for your help, Vera. Bye!"

"Bye! Good luck!"

Emilae and Orca ran down to the shore where boats were stopped at a deck, bobbing on the waves. Only then did they realize that they were stranded on the island.

"We have no boat," Orca said.

"I know," Emilae said. "We should have thought about that before."

"Did you kids say something about a boat?" a burly sailor asked.

"Uh, yeah, we were just saying how we're looking for-"

"For your boat? There's a boat shipwrecked on the shore down there, but I think it might still be okay. Is that yours? The red one, down that way."

Emilae's eyes followed where he was pointing to a small red boat with peeling paint, the front of which was carved to look like a dragon-like lion. Or was it a lion-like dragon? Emilae didn't pause to consider it; as soon as she saw the boat, she said, "Yes sir, that's our boat."

"Oh, good. I was tired of seeking the old thing junk up the beach. I guess I'll be on my way now."

When the sailor had gone, Orca hissed into Emilae's ear, "How could you lie like that? It's not our boat!"

Emilae looked at him sadly. "It is now. We're desperate, okay? We have to save the Great Sea from destruction and I don't even know if my best friend is alive."

Orca looked at her long and hard, his face screwed up as he tried hard not to cry in front of Emilae. "Okay," he said, his voice cracking. "Let's go. We can return or replace the boat later."


	6. Chapter 6: Sailing

Orca and Emilae checked the boat over for any damage (Orca still with a guilty conscience) and found it to be perfectly okay other than the bad paint job and a little stagnant water in the bottom, which they poured out. Other than that, it was in pretty good shape, and there was a sail sitting in the bottom, which they hoisted onto the mast.

They purchased a map of the Great Sea from a nearby villager, then were on their way to Dragon Roost. Now came the hardest part: all the waiting that came with the sailing they had to do to get there. The sun was hot overhead, but not unbearable, and a pleasant breeze blew over the sea. Orca closed his eyes and felt the spray of the sea and the rocking of the little boat. This journey was the first time he'd ever left Outset Island, and a sense of excitement filled him. A little fear and uncertainty, too. The only things he knew of the outside world he had read in Sturgeon's many books. He wondered if the islands of the Great Sea were really as the books described them.

The excitement left him after a couple hours of sailing, though. The sun rose in the sky until it burned bright and hot above, and the rocking of the boat made him feel nauseated. And it was all so boring. There was hardly anything to look at other than waves and the occasional island in the distance.

With nothing to do, he found himself worrying. _What am I supposed to do, exactly?_ He wondered. He tried to make a mental list of everything the Great Fairy had told him, but he still didn't understand everything. And before he collected the Triforce pieces, found Princess Zelda, returned the land of Hyrule to the surface, or defeated Ganondorf, he still had to find Sturgeon and Lenzo. His memories flashed back to what the girl on Windfall had told them, about a boy clinging to a piece of wood in the ocean, and he tried to block it out of his mind. _Worrying will do me no good_, he told himself. That didn't stop him from doing it anyway. He felt even sicker than before, but now it wasn't from just the choppy waves.

Orca looked around for something, anything, to distract him from his thoughts. He saw that Emilae was asleep. She looked so peaceful as she dreamed, but he knew that when she was awake she was just as worried as he was about their friends. Orca was feeling drowsy as well, but he knew he had to stay awake and make sure the boat stayed on course.

He stared out at the open sea: so vast, so beautiful, so… boring. But peaceful. The warm air and the sound of lapping water was beginning to get to Orca, and sleep began to overtake him, as hard as he fought it. He forced himself to jolt awake once, but it didn't last long, and soon he too was snoring gently in the bottom of the boat.

Orca woke up at night, wondering why his bed was rocking before remembering that they were in a boat, on their way to Dragon Roost Island. At least, they _had_ been on their way. Now the boat was just slightly bobbing on the waves, the sail down. He wondered if Emilae had put the sail down, and turned to look at her, but she was still fast asleep, her figure barely visible in the darkness that surrounded them. _Maybe she woke up and put the sail down, then went back to sleep. But… why would she do that?_

Orca had thought the ocean was quiet during the day as they traveled, but it seemed even quieter now. All he heard was the sound of waves and Emilae's steady breathing. _Where are we?_ He turned and was startled to see a huge tower of white stone in the middle of the ocean. "Whoa." _What is this place?_ "Emilae," he said. "Emilae, wake up. You've got to see this."

"Huh?" Emilae slurred, still more than half asleep. Her eyes were barely open, but apparently it was enough to see the tower in front of them because she seemed wide awake an instant later. "Whoa."

"That's what I said, too. Do you have any idea what this place is?"

"Well…" She sounded like she had an idea but then said, "No. I don't know."

"You were about to say something, weren't you?"

"No. I mean yes. I mean… I had an idea, but it's just nonsense."

Orca narrowed his eyes and lifted an eyebrow. "And being told by a great fairy that you're destined to defeat a legendary evil and make a kingdom rise from the bottom of the sea is perfectly normal, right?" Emilae didn't have an answer for that. "I didn't think so," Orca said. "Now let's hear that idea."

"Well, it's crazy, but Sturgeon once told me about a place called the Tower of the Gods. This place looks exactly like he described it, but it's probably a coincidence. That place doesn't exist for real; it's just a myth."

Orca thought for a moment, then asked, "So do you think we should explore it, or be on our way to Dragon Roost?"

Emilae pulled out their map and looked it over. "I would suggest we find our way to Dragon Roost. We don't have any time to waste. But first we have to figure out where on this map we are right now." She pointed to a place on the chart and said, "If I remember correctly, the Tower of the Gods is right here. Which means we would have to go north east to reach Dragon Roost."

"We're seriously going to take our chances with this? When we don't even know if this is the Tower of the Gods?"

"Have any other suggestions?"

Orca sighed and ran a hand through his snow white hair. "No. I guess it's the only thing we _can_ do."

"Exactly. Now hoist the sail and we'll be on our way."


End file.
